Flexible covering material and method of making same



Jul 15, 19240 1,501,156

J. A. WILSON FLEXIBLE COVERING MATERIAL AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Nov. 12. 1923 ATTORNEY Patented July 15, 1924.

umreo STATES 1,501,156 PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. WILSON, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO DURATEX CORPORATION,

0F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OENEW JERSEY;

FLEXIBLE COVERING MATERIAL AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME.

Application filed November 12, 1923. Serial No. 674,313.

Toall whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN A. WILSON, residing at Elizabeth, New Jersey, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Flexible Covering Materials and Methods of Making Same, of which I declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention relates to a flexible covering material which may be used as .a leather substitute for upholstery in furniture or automobiles, as a top or deck mate rial for automobiles and in numerous other instances. My invention relates to the broad idea of uslng, 111 a flexible covering materlal formed by coating or impregnating a fabric base, a burlap base.

The leading object of my invention is to provide a flexible waterproof covering material which may be used as a substitute for leather in upholstering or as a deck or top material for automobiles and which can be manufactured and sold at aprice which is considerably less than that of materials heretofore on the market for such purposes. A further object of my invention is to provide such a covering material which is permanently waterproof and which will not develop cracks or openings to permit moisture to seep through even after it has been exposed to sun and heat for a long period.

Another object of my invention is to provide a waterproof covering material which is very strong but which is, nevertheless, flexible so that the material may be bent through a considerable arc without cracking the surface coating. Another object of my invention is to provide a flexible waterproof covering material of such a nature that it will take and retain satisfactorily an embossing impression. it is an object of the invention to provide a flexible covering material which has the waterproof characteristics of rubber coated material but which will receive and retain a better surface finish than it is possible to apply to rubber-coated material now on the market.

l have discovered that burlap, heretofore disregarded, or regarded as impossible of such use, forms a very desirable base for such a flexible coated product, which is light and strong, will not stretch, roll, warp or crack, and, while the size of the individual threads which go to make up the finished product are extremely strong and make a,

more rigid product than the ordinary fabric .of producing such a flexible fabric having the burlap base and also to a composite fabric constituting one embodiment of my broad invention, including the employment of a facing material with the backing of the coarse threaded burlap fabric, and also cementing the two fabrics together with a special type of slow setting cement which will satisfactorily join the backing and facing and at the same time particularly cooperate in producing the very flexible but strong, durable product so as to permit an embossing of the product directly or with the use of a relatively small amount of coating material such as a water-proof material, due to the fact that the cementing material itself may take and hold the embossing. In this way a manufactured product is made, using a burlap base, which may be very strong and durable but flexible and which may be treated in any manner desired on, the face thereof independently of the texture of the backing or base material, the extreme cheapness of the new article produced thereby being apparent.

The invention further contem lates the production of a stable laminated fabric sin-- ploying a burlap base in which the cement goining the laminations will be free of decomposition and will lend itself readily to embossing or other surface treatment in th finished product.

The invention also contemplates, in one aspect, the use of a non-heat-curing rubber cement. for joining together a base and a facing sheet, .thus permitting the embossing of the product after a surface coating has been applied to the facing sheet. This gives a more perfect. embossed surface than could of this invention such as relate to the arrangement and the character of the different materials employed in the completed structure and the various economies in the -manufacture of a suitable flexible covering material of the character, indicated and numerous other features as will be apparent from 1 forming one finished product. 29

Fig. 5 shows a burlap base which has been calendered with the cementing material applied.

Fig. 6 shows a burlap. base which is coated with the finishing fabric or material doubled thereto with a similar cement.

Fig. 7 shows the same with a pyroxylih coating added thereto and suitably embossed.

Fig. 8, corresponding with Fig. 4, shows a front view of the completed modified embodiment shown in Figures 5 to 8, all of the views shown in the drawings being considerably enlarged for the sake of clearness. As indicated above, the present invention relates to the broad idea of the-use of a burlap base in a fabric of the character indicated, the same having chemical and physical properties of material advantage not only in thecompletedproduct but also in the use of the same in the various steps of any process through which the burlap base may pass in making any desired combination or its treatment alone in producing a finishedsuitable product, relatively cheap and strong, and rigid yet sufliciently flexible for a great many new uses.

As one method of executing the present invention I provide a burlap base which ordinarily may be obtained in the rough state indicated in Fig. 1 and' submit the same to a calenderi-ng or mangling process to thereby flatten the threads and prevent the showing of the coarse weave and thus aid in the. production of the finished satisfactory product which may be subjected to.

a final treatment independently of the coarseness and size of the individual threads of the main base or backing part of the product or any facing material used. The burlap base maybe in its natural color or dyed to meet certain requirements. I To the smoothed burlap base 10 is applied, as indicated in Fig. .3, acementing material 11 which is preferably composed of a slow setting substance or composition of substances in order t permit emboss ing or other treatment thereof as will hereinafter appear. I have found a suitable cement may be composed of non-heat curing rubber compound with a relatively small amount oflime and magnesia which operate as a stabilizer. This rubber cement, it will be noted, contains no sulphur other than that present in any factice which may be used in the cement and it is not cured or vulcanized by the application of heat. This rubber compound is of the type known as a non-heat-curing compound and it cures by ageing. The absence of sulphur from this compound is important as a heat-cured rubber compound would contain sulphur and the presence of sulphur would eventually result in "blooming which would disfigure the surface of the finished product. The use of this non-heat-curing rubber compound permits the embossing of the material after the surface coating has been applied and the impression of the embossing will be retained due to the presence of the uncured rubber compound. If a heatcuring rubber compound were used it would be necessary to emboss before curing and that would necessarily have to be done before the surface coating was applied because such surface coating would not stand the heat necessary for curing. The use of a non-heat-curing rubber compound of this nature has an. additional advantage over a vulcanized rubber compound because the non-heat-curing compound'does not age so rapidly to a condition of hardness or brittleness. The following formularepresents a rubber composition. which I have foun d very satisfactory for use as a cement in th1s connection v Pounds. Smoked sheets 15 Reclaimed rubber 20 Factice 1O lifineral' rubber 8 Carbon black 1 Whiting Lime r. 1.

This mixture is dissolved in naphtha sufficientto bring it to the proper consistency for spreading. On the other. hand, any properly treated oxidized 0118 such as linseed oil and the like may be used as a cementing layer. This material may thenbe directly embossed, if desired, or faced with a pyroxylin coating to take the embossing, and the same constitutes one embodiment of the invention. without the use of'any facing fabric or material, or without being doubled to a certain type of facing fabric as, for example, that hereinafter described. As a rule it would be important to select a relatively closely woven burlap base when used without the facing doubled or otherwise seoured thereto. The extreme cheapness and yet highly desirable product resulting therefrom will at once be apparent and it is'found from the microscopic examination that the strands of the jute base are very effectively joined-with the coating byreason of the inherent strand construction of the 'base into which the coating extends and the numerous fibres extending therefrom which flexibly join the base and coating. The result is a very strong product flexing without cracking apparently because of the character of the strands and the connection of one to those adjacent through the coating of the flexible type.

A facing material 12, (seeFig. 6) such as a closely woven cotton sheeting material, drill, paper, or any other suitable flexi ble or relatively fine woven material, is joined to the burlap base-or backing 10 by a similarcement v11, which fills the interstices in the facing 12 and in addition surrounds and joins a large number of individual fibres extending off from the threads of the same, the burlap thus being firmly held thereto. in this art to mean the joining o two fabrice or sheets of material together bya layer of cement, such as for instance rubber cement, interposed between them. After cementing these two pieces of goods together with the suitable slow setting cement a relatively thin outside coating 13 of pyroxylin or the like, to form a surface coating thereon, may be applied and thereafter the product treated with embossing dies or rolls to give a desirable embossed finished surface to the product. If the rubber compound be used the embossing takes place without the vulcanizing of the rubber as this would interfere with the proper embossing and in the resultant product the backing and facing are connected by a suitable cementing material which is free from liabilit to decomposition aud capable of joining thev backing 10 and facing 12 without heat vulranization, so as to lend itself to the emblessing action referred to.

lit will thus be seen that by this method a relatively cheap, satisfactory leather substitute may be manufactured in which, by reason cit-the burlap base, a product having considerable body, strength and rigidity is produced which, however is nevertheless flexible, lending itself to various uses including those indicated above, as will appear to those skilled in. the art.

Moreover, the fact that the burlap base will not stretch greatly facilitates any treatment thereof in any cementing operations which may be employed, facing operations or water-proofing nishing steps which may be used and in which the burlap base is passed through machines and ovens, if employed, as well as-the embossing machines, so that the characteristics of the burlap in The term doublin is used its resistance to stretching permits the same to be subjected to relatively heavy loads and also produces a suitable finished product when completed. Moreover the great strength of the material employed as the base, the size of the individual threads which go to make up the finished product and the capacity of the same for various chemical treatments such as bleaching and the like renders the discovery I have made that the same may be used in a flexible covering material of the character indicated, of material value in the art.

Coated fabrics having a surface coating of pyroxylin are very much in demand as covering materials because of the excellent surface finish which may be imparted to the pyroxylin coating; for instance, b means of embossing. If pyroxylin coate fabrics however, are used in situations in which they are exposed to the sun heat or weather the pyroxylin coating tends, in time, to develo minute cracks or crevices which moisture to/seep through the material, so that such coated fabrics are not permanently ermit water-proof. One of'the great advantages of my present invention is that there is a water-proof layer between the burlap base and the surface coating of yroxylin which is not afiected by sun or eat so that the resulting product, will be permanently water-proof and will not develop cracks or crevices which permit the moisture to seep through. This enables me to produce a covering'material which is permanently water-proof but which has all the advantages of surface finish which are pecular to pyroxylin coated fabrics.

it is also clear thatin the specific method herein illustrated and the more specific prodnot produced there are many advanta es, particularly by reason of the slow setting cement which not only joins the 'facing and backing but also forms the material in which the embossing may be made with the use of a very little amount of finishing composition such as pyroxyli'n. or other suitable water-proofing substances.

lln this manner the cost of the roduct is reduced and at the same time a nish may be applied to a combination using a burlap base in which the coarse texture of the base the invention modifications and difierent ar-.

ran ements may be-made other than as herein isclosed, and the present disclosure is illustrative merely of the invention comprehending all variations thereof.

What is claimed is:

l. A flexible Water-proof covering material comprising a burlap base, a layer of rubber cement applied to said base, a facing sheet secured to said, base by said rubber 2 cement and a surface'coating of pyroxylin applied to .said facing sheet.

2. A flexible, cloth-like water-proof covering material comprising a burlap base, a layer of flexible ater-proof cement secured to said base,- a facing'sheet secured to said base by said cement and a relatively thin surface coating of pyroxylin applied to said facing sheet, said covering material being capable of flexing or bending through a considerable are without cracking.

3. A flexible, cloth-like Water-proof-covering material comprising a burlap base, a

layer of water-proof material applied to said base, a sheet of facing fabricsecured to said base by said layer and a surface layer of pyroxylin applied to said facing sheet.

. 5. A flexible Water-proof coveringmaterial comprising a fabric base, a non-heatcuring rubber compound applied to said base, a facing sheet cemented to said base by said compound and a surface coating of pyroxylin applied to the facing-sheet.

6. A flexible water-proof covering material comprising a fabric base, a layer of rubber cement applied to said base, said cement including lime and magnesia, a facing sheet cemented to said base by said composition, and a surface layer of pyroxylin applied to' said facing sheet.

7. The process of making a flexible waterproof covering material comprising 'joining a light weight facing fabric to a burlap base by a rubber cement and applying a relatively thin coating of pyroxylin to the facing fabric,

8. The process'of making a flexible waterproof covering'material comprisin joining a burlap base to a web of facing abric by a non-heat-cur-ing rubber composition, applying a relatively thin surface coating of pyroxylin to the facing fabric, and then embossing.

'9. A process of manufacturing a flexible fabric, comprising calendering a burlap base to smooth the same, cementing thereto a finer fabricfacing with a slow setting cementing material applying a thin pyroxylin coating thereon and embossing before said cement is set,

10. A process of the character indicated comprising smoothing a burlap backing, applying a facing material thereon with a nonheat-curing rubber cement compound and subsequently. embossing the fabric.

11. A flexible, laminated fabric comprisinga burlap base doubled to a sheeting facing by means of a rubber cement and a coating of pyroxylin on said fabric,

12. A flexible, laminated fabric comprising a burlap base doubled to a sheeting facing by means of a rubber cement and a coat- I ing of pyroxylin on said fabric, said cement and coating being embossed on said fabric.

13. A flexible water-proof covering material comprising a burlap base, a layer of rubber cement applied to said base, a layer of fibrous material secured to said base by said rubber cement and a surface coating of pyroxylinapplied to said layer of fibrous material.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JOHN A. WILSON 

